2012
Big data: coming soon to a company near you
Dennis Berman of the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) explores the rise of “big data” or analytics, observing that it’s already making significant inroads in the business world and represents an even more important trend than iPads or IPOs. It will “push adaptation and business cycles even faster than they are today.”
While the increased use of analytics has implications across all aspects of an organization’s work, perhaps nowhere is its potential impact greater than on the people side of the business. For example, simply identifying those aspects of employees’ work environment that are most important in driving customer service success (or other key business outcomes) can have major bottom line consequences.
Although some companies are already quite advanced in this realm, we’re still in the early days of this new world, so there’s still time for forward-thinking corporate leaders to catch the analytics train.
2011
Moneyball, as its name suggests, is serious business
I know virtually nothing about — and have even less interest in — baseball. But I LOVE the movie Moneyball (based on the Michael Lewis book), which is about the application of “HR analytics” to the game.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It is the story of how a soft-spoken, recent Yale economics grad applies his analytic know-how, with the help and support of the Oakland A’s general manager (played by Brad Pitt) to help achieve remarkable success (as measured by games won), with the smallest budget in the league for buying “talent.”
Some of the lines in the movie (I’m paraphrasing here) could be lifted from my day-to-day work life as an economist applying the principles and insights of behavioral economics to the business world:
- “People are running the business on fundamentally wrong assumptions.”
- “This is going to fundamentally change the game.”
- “The reason people are resisting it is because it is going to change how they make a living.”
In addition to being entertaining, Moneyball is worth watching because it has important lessons for business.
There is competitive advantage to be gained through analytics – no matter what business you are in. And the laggards will be the losers.
2011
Raging debates in HR analytics
A new article this month from Laurie Bassi in People & Strategy tackles the questions of what, why, who, where/when – and then takes a peek at the future of HR analytics.
The article is available for download here.
2011
Big data
McKinsey recently put out a report on the growing importance of “big data” and the capacity to answer some comparably big questions when using huge data sets.
It’s fun to read (partly just because of the scope they’re discussing), and it also does a nice job of illustrating from a different angle a trend we’ve explored here previously – the growing importance of analytics, and the incredible power that can come from marrying the right data to the right analytic techniques.
Big data or small data, the potential is huge, and it’s for that reason more and more organizations are pointing themselves in the direction of analytics when assessing the impact of their workforce.
2011
The Better Life Index
According to Nobel prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, “Those attempting to guide the economy and our societies are like pilots trying to steer a course without a reliable compass” (from Mismeasuring our Lives).
They argue that Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while a widely-used measure of economic activity, is not a reliable indicator of economic and social progress.
On this note, as part of its Better Life Initiative, the OECD has released a “Better Life Index” which rates its 34 member nations on 11 attributes that contribute to well-being: housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance.
When all 11 attributes are weighted equally, the U.S. ranks sixth—behind Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Denmark. Prefer to weight some items more heavily? You can dive into the OECD’s interactive tool to re-weight the 11 attributes and see how that changes the overall country rankings.
When taken seriously, measurement systems such as this help move dialogue and debate beyond misinformation and hubris, and can help thoughtful, informed citizens and leaders make better-informed choices.
That’s why we at McBassi & Company are so intently focuses on “smarter” measurement systems. They represent potentially powerful catalysts for positive change.
2011
Revolution/evolution
In a just-released report on human capital trends, Deloitte has identified workforce analytics as the #1 “revolutionary trend.”
According to Deloitte, this trend is being driven by a variety of factors, including the following:
- The need for foresight
- Falling technology and data costs
- Data-savvy leaders
- Rich and deeper data
- Generational difference and diversity in the workforce
The primary applications that they see emerging for workforce analytics include the following:
- Workforce planning and optimization
- Recruiting analytics
- Retention risk analytics
- Organizational design
- Leadership development
- Workforce safety analytics
- Workforce transitions
- Health and productivity
This is exactly consistent with what we see from where we sit at McBassi & Company. Workforce analytics is arising both because of necessity and opportunity. It is emerging as a critical new core competence for HR practitioners and functions.
So we concur: this is, indeed, a revolutionary – not just an evolutionary – trend.
2011
Do you have ineffective HR metrics?
John Sullivan, former chief talent officer at Agilent, posted a superb list of the 25 “most damaging metric errors” that can cause your HR metrics to be ineffective or disappointing.
Among the entries on his list that we see most frequently in working with other organizations are the following:
- Not tied to business goals (or revenue impact)
- Not designed for decision-making
- Follow-the-leader errors (“over-benchmarking,” or relying too heavily on external benchmarks rather than what’s most important for your business)
2011
Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss
Google is once again back in the news for applying its analytics prowess on itself. By combining data from performance reviews, employee surveys and nominations for top-manager awards, the people analytics team at Google was able to identify the specific attributes that the best managers at Google share.
Turns out that even at Google, people management skills – making “time for one-on-one meetings, (helping) people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers,” etc. – are the hallmark of a great boss, and much more important than things like technical skills.
That’s probably not a big surprise to most human resource professionals. But what is perhaps surprising is that Google is able to use its analytics to rank the importance of each of these “great boss” attributes with precision and rigor. That, in turn, enables Google to provide customized, actionable intelligence to each manager about the specific behavioral changes they need to make to help them become better bosses.
McBassi has used these same analytic techniques in many client engagements. And like Google, we find that the real power in doing so is that it provides organization-specific insights that managers and leaders find much more convincing then generic, one-size-fits-all benchmarks. That, in turn, serves as a powerful catalyst for them to change their behavior in ways that will really make a difference.
You certainly don’t have to be Google to get these results. But you do need a little bit of analytics know-how and creativity.
2011
More on sports analytics
The Boston Globe Magazine’s cover story this past weekend profiled a variety of analysts who are using their talents in the world of sports to drive greater success through thoughtful, creative use of numbers.
Because of the multitude of statistics available in sports, it’s a perfect field for analytic trailblazers. We expect this analytic trend to spread far beyond sports in the years ahead, as other industries recognize the power of numbers, work to create meaningful people metrics, and then crunch the numbers to generate new insights about what’s driving key outcomes.
2011
Attracting and keeping top analytic talent
In this month’s Talent Management, Elizabeth Craig and Jeanne Harris explore the increasing demand across organizations for analytical professionals - and some of the unique challenges that creates.
“Quants” are notoriously difficult to retain; the authors cite a 2009 study that found that almost half are likely to look for new jobs within a year.
They therefore recommend that organizations that want to attract and retain analytical pros should (1) seek to become an organization that is a magnet for such talent, including the building of a culture in which data and analysis play a central role in decision-making; and (2) recognize that talent as scarce and valuable and manage it accordingly.
In our work at McBassi, we frequently encounter other organizations – especially medium-sized or small firms – that are also seeking the insights and advantages that come from sophisticated analytics, but can’t afford to build (or retain) that talent in-house.
A good solution for such organizations is to seek a trusted external partner or consultant that can provide analytic services when needed, allowing the organization to avoid many of the challenges around the attracting and retaining of analytic professionals, as described by Craig and Harris.